United States

Statistics - restriction and disqualification applications

2014 has been another busy year in the courts for restriction and disqualification applications.

Restriction Orders
It seems that the figures for restriction orders made against directors for 2014 will be broadly comparable to 2013. In the first six months of 2014 103 directors were restricted and in all of 2013, 222 directors were restricted. The number of directors restricted has increased significantly over the past number of years. In 2012 the number of directors restricted was 229 compared with 121 in 2011.

Disqualification Orders
Only 12 directors were disqualified in the first six months of 2014 while 34 were disqualified in 2013. There were 34 disqualifications of directors in 2012 and 27 in 2011.

Comparative figures from the UK disqualification regime have proven much higher, with a total of 1,208 disqualifications in the 2013/2014 period. While factoring in various size and population disparities is necessary, this nonetheless raises a question as to the effectiveness of the Irish system.